1. Field of the Invention
The presently disclosed invention is related to improvements in the security of vertically hinged doors and, more particularly, to improvements to wood doorjambs that are used in combination with vertically hinged steel doors.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The prior art includes many devices that are intended to strengthen entry doors against forced entry. Some of these devices such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,058,332 and 3,934,910 were directed to strengthening the area around the door locking mechanism.
With particular regard to steel doors, it has been found that the door is actually stronger and more rigid than the supporting doorjamb. Thus, a point of forced entry has often become the doorjamb and not the door. Accordingly, prior art devices such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,918,207 and 5,154,461 include various structures for strengthening the doorjamb.
An accepted method of preventing forced entry is the use of dead bolt locks. Prior art structures have also addressed strengthening the doorjamb when the door employs a dead bolt lock. However, some prior art structures as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,509 attempted to strengthen the area immediately around the strike plate and the deadbolt lock, but not the larger area of the doorjamb in general. Such devices also led to other difficulties such as interference and high wear of weather-stripping. In addition, they were frequently aesthetically unacceptable. In some cases, the visibility of the device allowed it to be more easily defeated by one who is attempting to gain unauthorized access.
Still other devices that are described in the prior art provide structure that strengthens the door against forced entry, and that are also not visible or that are substantially hidden by the conventional frame and jamb structures. However, in some cases, the design of these devices did not allow their inclusion in existing structures. Examples are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,024,475 and 5,581,948.
Still other devices such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,770,452; 5,934,024 and 5,836,628 provided support to the doorjamb for the purpose of strengthening the structural elements, but were sized such that additional support was desirable, were difficult to install in the space typically afforded in existing structures, or required detailed finish carpentry.
Accordingly, a need has persisted in the prior art for a structure that will strengthen the doorjamb in the area of the deadbolt in a manner that is aesthetically acceptable and that can be easily installed in both new and existing structures. In particular, there was a need for such doorjamb supports that would afford still greater strength and greater support of the doorjamb than structures known in the prior art.
In accordance with the presently disclosed invention, a doorway structure is designed for use with a door of the type that employs a deadbolt lock. The structure includes a doorjamb with a bolt hole that passes between a finished inner surface and a rough outer surface. The doorway structure further includes a door stop that is secured to the finished surface of the doorjamb at a location that brings the deadbolt of the door lock into registry with the bolt hole of the doorjamb so that the bolt hole of the doorjamb will receive the deadbolt of the door at times when the door is in the closed position. First and second reinforcement plates are located between the rough surface of the doorjamb and the structure frame with a portion of the first reinforcement plate overlapping a portion of the second reinforcement plate. Each of the first and second reinforcement plates have respective bolt holes that are in the overlapping portion of the first and second reinforcement plates with the bolt holes both being in registry with the bolt hole of the doorjamb so that the bolt holes of the first and second reinforcing plates receive the deadbolt of the door lock.
Preferably, the vertical extent of the first reinforcing plate is at least one-half the vertical length of the doorjamb and the vertical extent of the second reinforcing plate is also at least one-half the vertical extent of the doorjamb.
Also preferably, the width of the first and second reinforcing plates is substantially equal to the width of the doorjamb. Most preferably, the first and second reinforcing plates are secured to the doorjamb by fastening means such as an adhesive or mechanical fasteners, used either alone or in combination.
Other details, objects and advantages of the subject invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a presently preferred embodiment of the subject invention proceeds.